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their squad had been assigned to defend Sector 14 against possible breakthroughs by enemy troops. Hawker
nodded. There wasn’t much more he needed to know; he could take his lead from the rest of the squad.
When everyone was outfitted, the sergeant reappeared and said a few more words—probably last-minute
instructions and/or words of encouragement. No one really listened; each squad was busy trying to make itself
into a fighting unit rather than the random assortment of individuals it actually was. Perhaps the sergeant himself
finally realized he was hindering more than helping, for he shut up abruptly and let the squad leaders do their
job.
There was little enough time for that. All too quickly, the troops were pointed to the elevators and brought
to the surface, where they’d be dispersed to their particular sectors.
Hawker’s first glimpse of the surface confirmed all his suspicions. The town they were defending was in bad
shape; in fact, to all appearances it was lost already.
The sky overhead was dark, despite having two suns above the horizon. Clouds of black smoke hung over
the city, evidence of fires wrought by enemy weapons. Although the air on this planet should have been
breathable, the stinging sensation of smoke made it far from pleasant. There were tears in Hawker’s eyes, and he
wished there’d been gas masks available; rubbing at his eyes with the backs of his hands, he followed the rest of
his squad to their designated sector.
All about them was rubble and desolation. Hawker had no idea what world he was on, what the original
inhabitants had been like or how splendid their town had looked before falling to the ravages of this war. He
could only see the end result: no building over four stories stood intact, and even the smaller ones had windows
shattered by the constant bombardment of enemy artillery; large impact craters dotted the streets, hindering
progress; vehicles abandoned, overturned, burned; dead bodies lying everywhere, some killed directly by enemy
fire, others indirectly by being trapped under a collapsing building. And nowhere, other than his fellow troopers,
could Hawker see a sign of life. Everyone capable of fleeing had already deserted the city, leaving the opposing
armies to decide the issue.
Let the soldiers fight it out, the citizens said by their actions. Then tell us what the outcome is. At times like this,
Hawker often wondered what the difference was between cowardice and common sense.
The squad moved quickly through the empty streets, crouched low to avoid possible gunfire and taking
cover behind deserted buildings along the way. Overhead, an occasional ball of blue flame would drift lazily
through the sky. Hawker had never seen anything quite like them in battle before, but he hardly had to be told
they were dangerous. His guesses about them were confirmed when one of the blue fireballs brushed lightly
against the top of a building several hundred meters away. The structure promptly exploded, knocking the entire
squad to their knees and showering the area with tiny bits of rubble, hardly more than a fine dust. Hawker
instinctively covered his head, but he needn’t have bothered; the blue fireballs didn’t leave pieces big enough to
cause any damage.
Their sector, it turned out, was an area of some ten square blocks near the outskirts of the inner city. The
neighborhood had been oriented toward small businesses and shops, with few tall buildings and only a scattering
of residences. As a result, it had fared better than some other, more important target areas. Only a couple of
structures had suffered even minor damage, there were no casualties lying about, and the streets were quite
passable.
Probably too passable, Hawker thought, surveying the scene with a professional eye. The enemy could march a
battalion through these streets, and all we’ve got is a ten-man squad to stop them. He was already making mental notes of the
most effective places to use his grenades to block the streets, should it be necessary.
They came to a halt and the squad leader broke them down into two-man teams, each to patrol its own area
within the sector. Since the Spardian was the only squad member Hawker could communicate with, he found
himself teamed up with her again. They said little as they marched out to their post, at the most forward area of
the sector. Hawker surmised his squad leader wasn’t happy having someone he couldn’t talk to, and had
purposely assigned him to the front lines. Hawker was the most expendable person in the group.
He and the Spardian woman scouted their area and quickly found a secure vantage point in a narrow stairway
leading down to a cellar. Peering over the top they had an almost unobstructed view of the street in both
directions, while being reasonably safe themselves. With that accomplished, they settled in to wait.